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The Middle Tenn. Blue Raiders are 1-6 against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers since October of 2015, but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. Middle Tenn. and WKU will face off in a Conference USA battle at 3:30 p.m. ET at Johnny (Red) Floyd Stadium. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W.'
The afternoon started off rough for the Blue Raiders last week, and it ended that way, too. They found themselves the reluctant recipients of an unpleasant 41-14 punch to the gut against the UAB Blazers. Middle Tenn. was in a tough position by the half, with the score already sitting at 38-7. One thing holding Middle Tenn. back was the mediocre play of QB Chase Cunningham, who did not have his best game: despite one touchdown, he threw one interception with only 196 yards passing.
Meanwhile, WKU was close but no cigar last week as they fell 31-28 to the UTSA Roadrunners. A silver lining for the Hilltoppers was the play of QB Austin Reed, who passed for two TDs and 373 yards on 49 attempts in addition to rushing for one TD and 43 yards.
The Blue Raiders are expected to lose this next one by 8. Those betting on them against the spread shouldn't have high expectations for them since the squad is 1-3 ATS when expected to lose.
The losses bumped both teams down to an identical 3-3. Middle Tenn. and WKU are both 1-1 after wins this season, but that symmetry won't hold for long.
